PLoS ONE (Jan 2024)

Face mask use in the city of Chennai, India: Results from three serial cross-sectional surveys, 2021.

  • Murali Sharan,
  • Manikandanesan Sakthivel,
  • Polani Rubeshkumar,
  • Ramya Nagarajan,
  • Vettrichelvan Venkatasamy,
  • Sendhilkumar Muthappan,
  • Mohankumar Raju,
  • Joshua Chadwick,
  • Kalyani S,
  • Navaneeth S Krishna,
  • Mogan Kaviprawin,
  • Pavan Kumar Gollapalli,
  • Srinath Ramamurthy,
  • Parasuraman Ganeshkumar,
  • Murugesan Jagadeesan,
  • Prabhdeep Kaur

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297909
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 4
p. e0297909

Abstract

Read online

IntroductionThe Government of Tamil Nadu, India, mandated wearing face masks in public places to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We established face mask surveillance and estimated the prevalence of appropriate mask use (covering the nose, mouth, and chin) in the slums and non-slums of Chennai at different time points in 2021.MethodsWe conducted three serial cross-sectional surveys in the outdoors and indoors of Chennai in March, July, and October 2021. We observed the mask wearing among 3200 individuals in the outdoors and 1280 in the indoors. We divided the outdoor and indoor locations into slums and non-slums. In October 2021, we also surveyed 150 individuals from each of the 11 shopping malls in the city. We calculated the proportions and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for the appropriate mask use in the outdoor, indoor, and malls by age, gender, region, and setting (slum and non-slum).ResultsWe observed 3200 individuals in the outdoor and 1280 individuals in the indoor setting, each from a slum and non-slum, during the three rounds of the study. In outdoor and indoors, males comprised three-fourths and middle-aged individuals were half the study population. Mask compliance changed significantly with time (p-value ConclusionThe mask compliance in Chennai outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic was less than 50%, with variations across time points by gender, age groups, and geographical locations. We must develop more effective communication strategies for older age groups and crowded indoor settings.